There are significantly more “zombie foreclosures” in the Washington area than there were a year ago. Those are houses or condos that are sitting empty after their owners, facing foreclosure, simply moved out.

RealtyTrac says in the third quarter there were 1,031 such properties in the Washington metro, up 40 percent from a year ago, even as the number of zombie foreclosures is down nationwide.

There were 117,298 owner-vacated foreclosure properties across the country in the third quarter, or 18 percent of total properties in foreclosure, down 23 percent from the third quarter of 2013.

For cities like Washington, and other large metros that include Trenton and Atlantic City, New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia, the increase in owner-vacated foreclosures is unwelcome.

“Markets with lengthy and lengthening foreclosure timelines have unintentionally created a zombie foreclosing breeding ground,” says RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist. “As we see a backlog of delayed distress finally hit the foreclosure pipeline in some of those markets, the problem is coming more to light.”

RealtyTrac says among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, 117 metro areas had a higher percentage of owner-vacated foreclosures than the national average of 18 percent.